The first day of competition was finally upon us at Tokyo 2020 on Saturday.

Okay, save for the football and softball which technically started on Wednesday, but to all intents and purposes this was the day it all began!

It's an exciting day for athletes and fans alike, as the benchmark was set for 16 days of competition.

And Stats Perform's Peter Hanson, covering the Games live from Tokyo, has another reason to be happy as he explains in the first post of our Daily Diary...

SURVIVING QUARANTINE

So, Saturday marks my third full day in Tokyo, which means by tomorrow I can leave the confines of my hotel!

To be fair, with the build up to the Games there has been plenty of work to do to help the time fly by...

But there have been some other methods too...Netflix, reading...singing Ronan Keating...messing around with tennis balls.

Basically, yeah, I'm looking forward to going outside!

ZAZA'S INSPIRING MESSAGE

Remember what you were doing at 12 years of age? I don't specifically, but chances are it involved pizza, fizzy drinks, a gaming chair and a Nintendo 64.

A sharp contrast then to Hend Zaza, who became the youngest Olympian since 1992 – a feat all the more impressive given her home town of Hama in Syria has been ravaged by war, making it difficult to find training facilities.

Unfortunately, Zaza went down 11-4 11-9 11-3 11-5 to 39-year-old Jia Liu of Austria but afterwards told kids around the world: "I had to fight for it and this is my message to everyone who wishes to have the same situation. Fight for your dreams, try hard, regardless of the difficulties that you're having, and you will reach your goal."

These Olympics have already faced many criticisms, but that beautiful message – especially coming from someone so young – is one we should all endorse.

YANG SHOOTS TO GLORY TO GET THE BALL ROLLING

There are 339 gold medals up for the grabs in total over the course of Tokyo 2020 and we had to start somewhere.

The honour went to Yang Qian of China, who topped the podium in the women's 10m air rifle event.

Asked what it meant to her, Yang replied: "It's the 100th birthday of the Chinese Communist Party. I'm so happy that this golden medal is a gift to my country. I'm so proud."

As a side note, Yang collected her own medal from a tray to place around her own neck – a policy all ceremonies will follow due to COVID-19 countermeasures.

HEATWAVES ON SATURDAY, BUT STORMS A BREWIN'?

Right now in Tokyo it is hot. Really hot. Might be too hot. And even hotter in a poorly airconditioned hotel room let me tell you…

The heat was a big talking point at the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo on the official first day, with both Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic commenting on the tough conditions.

But another issue is perhaps on the horizon, with Tropical Storm Nepartak potentially causing problems for sports like sailing and surfing. Monday's rowing events were already brought forward to Sunday.

A forecast by the Meteorological Agency predicted the storm is not likely to strengthen into a typhoon, though heavy rains are still expected.

Imagine being that person covering the Games who hasn't packed so much as a raincoat...yeah...yeah imagine being him.